Part of the Monday morning routine for coaches across the country is preparing a review of officiating to send to the conference office.

Colorado State coach Steve Fairchild said Monday he was in the “process” of forwarding a such report to the Mountain West Conference.

Asked during his weekly press conference if he felt any better about some calls after viewing the tape himself, Fairchild said “worse.”

Coaches know their constraints about public criticism of officiating in every sport.

“I feel bad for the kids because all you want is a fair outcome for the kids,” he said.

As for the plays in question, Fairchild said at his press conference “the list is as long as your notepad.”

A two-point conversion and a late onside kick by CSU recovered by San Diego State are known question marks.

While nearly every coach has some quibble about a call here or there, no one in the Mountain West rightfully can expect the benefit of a call in a game against San Diego State.

The Aztecs were clearly robbed of a win on a non-call against Missouri. Then BYU drove for a go-ahead score after replays showed a runner’s knee hit the ground after the ball popped loose.

If not for the BYU call, the Aztecs would be putting a perfect league record on the line against No. 3 TCU this week. Instead of “receiving votes,” an unbeaten team would be ranked and Brady Hoke a lock for national, and not just MWC, coach of the year.

It looks as if Colorado State will get an early men’s basketball signee this week. Javon Dawson, who averaged 8 points and 7.3 rebounds as a freshman for Gulf Coast Community College in Panama City, Fla., is on board with CSU, according to Gold and Green News of the rivals.com network.

Dawson is a redshirt candidate for his first season at CSU. He tore an ACL this fall and is sitting out his second season in juco.

A former high school football player from Crisp County, Ga., Dawson is a 6-7, 250-pound forward.

DU senior center Jesse Martin is recovering from surgery performed this afternoon at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minn., the school announced in a release. Martin, who was injured in a Oct. 30 game at North Dakota, required stabilization to his C2 vertebra.

“The surgery went as planned,” the release says, noting it was performed by Dr. Alex Mendez and Dr. Robert Morgan.

“Mendez specializes in cranial-based neurosurgical procedures, and both complex and minimally invasive spine surgery,” according to DU. “Morgan specializes in complex spine surgery and reconstruction.”

My Tuesday college hockey notes includes a look at the sensational Jaden Schwartz, the CC freshman wing who leads the WCHA in conference scoring. In six WCHA games, Schwartz has six goals and 10 points. That’s impressive stuff for an 180-pound, 18-year-old, given that the WCHA can be so cruel to youngsters (see Beau Bennett).

While putting together the piece, I noticed that another high-profile freshman leads the league in goals (WCHA games only). DU rookie Jason Zucker has seven goals in six conference games. Zucker, my pick for WCHA preseason rookie of the year, did not score in the nonconference games against Vermont and Boston College. His seven tallies have all come in DU’s last six games.

I also wrote about how DU needs secondary scoring. Only seven Pios have lit the lamp, and 14 of the team’s 26 goals have come from Zucker and sophomore center Drew Shore (seven). By the way, Mr. Shore has two more goals than what he had in 41 games as a freshman.

DU senior center Jesse Martin was today scheduled to undergo surgery in St. Paul, Minn., to stablize the three fractures to his C2 vertebra. I have no update. There has been no release from DU and I’m waiting to hear back from Marty’s father.

If DU’s brutal season-opening 10-game stretch didn’t end so badly in Colorado Springs on Saturday, you’d think the Pios would be happy being 4-4-2, given the handful of freshmen playing big roles. Still, DU is battle-tested and should climb well above .500 this month. I did some math and figured out the combined record for DU’s next three opponents that make up the next six games is 8-18-7.

Chilean miner Edison Pena crosses the finish line of the New York City Marathon in New York on Nov. 7, 2010. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images)

They say if you’ve lost faith in human nature, go watch a marathon. Sunday’s New York City Marathon offered one of the best reasons ever.

You probably know one of the rescued Chilean miners ran the race. Edison Pena had run three to six miles a day in the shafts of the mine while waiting to be rescued, and when NYC Marathon organizers heard about his story, they invited him to be their guest at this year’s race.

That wasn’t enough for Pena, who decided to run despite some knee problems. Thus the riveting image on Sunday’s NBC coverage of the race, showing Pena walking up First Avenue with ice bags on both knees. Yet he still managed to finish in five hours, 40 minutes, 51 seconds.

“First of all, I want to say that I would have run faster,” Pena is quoted in a great New York Times blog on his inspiring performance. “And I did run faster in the mine.”

Now I hope an orthopedist steps forward to fix his knee problems. I’d bet good money that will happen.

Pena is a great example of why marathoners love what they do, and why there is nothing like running a big one such as the NYCM, my favorite. I’ve run New York three times and covered it once. I never cease to be amazed at the inspiration it always offers, to runners and non-runners alike. I just wish I could have been there Sunday.

ALSO WORTH NOTING: The women’s winner, Edna Kiplagat of Kenya, trained in Boulder the past five months. And two former CU runners, finished well in the men’s race: Dathan Ritzenhein, eighth, and Jorge Torres, 11th. Michele Suszek of Lyons, profiled in last week’s Denver Post, finished 34th in the women’s standings.